


Every Wednesday With You

by wjmoon (sodapeach)



Category: Produce 101 (TV), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Bad Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, cute for no reason, i got carried away again, rated for alcohol and some language, routines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 15:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20762774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sodapeach/pseuds/wjmoon
Summary: To help him get through his work week, Wooseok treats himself to his favorite restaurant every Wednesday night where his favorite server Seungyoun works until he has to miss a week which throws off both of their routines.





	Every Wednesday With You

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write another Seungseok, and I got the idea after reading itskatbug’s latest work so I’m giving her the full credit for inspiring me to write something cute for no reason.

As everyone knew, it was a well-documented fact that Wednesdays were one of — if not  _ the _ — worst days of the week which was a title unjustly handed off to Mondays, but Wooseok knew better. Sure, waking up early sucked after finally getting a break from sitting upright in the same spot for eight hours a day, five days a week, but it was that middle of the week slump that truly was the bane of the average office worker — they just didn’t know it yet.

Wooseok knew it. He had long ago noticed the pattern of feeling fine on Tuesdays after getting adjusted from the Mondays before and feeling tired but hopeful on Thursdays thanks to the promise of Fridays and then the beloved  _ Saturdays.  _ But there was no hope for Saturdays on Wednesdays when the weekend was so dreadfully far away, so that’s why Wooseok came up with a ritual.

Wednesdays became Wooseok days.

He started off too elaborate, and that was his own mistake. He made plans that could fall through, and he found that repeatable tasks such as going to the movies could run too late into the evening and make him lose sleep (plus, over time, going to the movies every week cut into his bank account, and he liked having his savings). The purpose of his ritual was to not make himself more tired (or broke, for that matter). So that’s why he found his perfect happy medium of taking himself out to dinner with a good book, or a sketchbook, or something small to keep himself entertained so that while he got to treat himself, he wouldn’t make his life any more or less complicated. 

At first he tried several restaurants in his neighborhood, but that provided too many variables. Was the food good? What about the atmosphere? Was the staff nice? Was it too busy? Was the music too loud? Would they mind if he held a table for too long? 

After a few months, he finally found a little restaurant tucked away off the beaten path that checked off all of his boxes. It was hardly ever crowded, and they stayed open late so if he got too carried away with his book, no one rushed him out. Even the staff was perfect.

Wooseok liked to sit in back corners next to windows if he could so he could watch the world outside and daydream without the feeling of someone lurking behind him watching. Because of his mentally assigned seat and his regular Wednesday schedule, he always got the same server who, after months, still introduced himself as if it was the first time he had ever been there, and Wooseok wondered if that meant that he had a forgettable face. 

But the server was nice. His name was Seungyoun. He never made snide comments about Wooseok’s orders or tried to convince him to order an appetizer or a dessert. He left him alone to read or doodle or whatever it was that he was doing that evening, and it didn’t hurt that he was nice to look at. Not that Wooseok was paying attention to his appearance, of course. That was not one of his factors for finding the perfect restaurant, and it definitely did not persuade him to pick  _ that  _ restaurant at all. Not even a tiny bit.

“Here you go,” Seungyoun said as he set his plate down. Wooseok glanced up at him to mutter a thanks and pretended that he didn’t notice how nicely his hair was parted that day like someone from a comic book or how especially nice his shoulders looked in the white button up shirt he wore as part of his uniform. Wooseok saw plenty of white button up shirts at work, but none of them fit anyone quite as nicely as they did Seungyoun, the server who never noticed he was a regular. Although he supposed if he ever did notice, it might embarrass him too much to come back.

And then after the food was dropped off, Wooseok was left alone with his book and his burger and fries, and he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of him again until it was time to pay and leave. 

Once he left, the exhaustion that made him drag his feet into Thursdays had been replaced by a pep in his step courtesy of the promise that in exactly one week he could eat there again. That, he thought, was manageable.

And a week later, Wednesday came again, but that time his plans were completely derailed by an outside force that was surely out to get him.

“It’s just one company dinner,” Seungwoo assured him. Seungwoo was, for all intents and purposes, his supervisor. He was one step under their manager, who was by definition useless, but one step higher than Wooseok, who was dying to get a promotion to something that didn’t involve spreadsheets. Fortunately for Wooseok, he had over time become his best friend. Unfortunately for Wooseok, he was never willing to help him get out of things that both of them were required to do together.

“On a Wednesday,” Wooseok groaned. There was no way he could explain how sacred his Wednesdays were, but even if they weren’t, who in their right mind would want to show up to work hungover on a Thursday? “Why couldn’t he wait until this weekend?”

“Because our favorite manager likes to find any excuse to make you miserable, specifically,” Seungwoo said, also annoyed that he had to go. Their terrible and useless manager who Wooseok refused to refer to by name except to his face insisted that they had these little office get togethers to boost office morale, but their morale was fine. In fact, if everyone simply took a page from  _ his book  _ and did something nice for themselves on Wednesdays, they wouldn’t have a need to come in on Thursdays hungover.

“We could both get out of it,” Wooseok bargained. “If you guard the door, I’ll set the copier on fire.

Seungwoo’s eyes widened. “Look at you! You’ve got crazy eyes! Look, I don’t want to go either, but it’s really not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” Wooseok said, appalled. “I have to go s–  _ stop by the post office. _ ”

“Really? What did you order that’s so important you’d risk lighting a copy machine on fire?”

“S–skin care products,” he said, almost letting something stupid slip out.

Seungwoo raised his eyebrow. “Well since face cream isn’t exactly perishable, you’re still going. We can sit together and pretend to take shots and alternate turns tossing them into a potted plant when the manager isn’t looking.”

“Great,” Wooseok said, feeling bitter. It was just one sacrificed Wednesday. It couldn’t be so bad.

_ “Wooseok! Wooseok! Wooseok!” _ his fellow office members chanted as his manager handed him a hollowed out melon full of liquor too bitter for a weekday. 

His eyes were wide in disbelief. Did they expect him to drink the whole thing? Was he allowed to use a straw and sip from it like a prepared coconut or was he supposed to turn it upside down and pray that spiked melon juice wouldn’t run down his collar like a tropical wet t-shirt contest. 

Seungwoo looked at him apologetically but was otherwise not helpful at all. He smiled at everyone shyly as they looked at him with too much expectation, and he knew that he was going to regret what he was about to do.

He grabbed the melon firmly in his hands, put his mouth over the hole that was just big enough to fit the opening of a bottle, and threw his head back, casting aside any ounce left of his dignity.

A chorus of shouts and applause erupted as he chugged the contents that were too sweet yet too pungent to chug causing the liquid to dribble down from his chin onto his clothes like a dumb drunk baby. The hungry crowd had been satisfied, but the way his stomach churned, he knew his night had been successfully ruined. At least now he was inebriated enough that when he swatted away drinks, his office mates considered it sloppy and endearing and not a personal rejection that could ostracize him from the people he was forced to spend all of his waking hours with. 

As the room spun and as he wondered if he had developed a sudden melon allergy, he wished he was on his way home from eating his burger and fries instead with his book that didn’t shout at him or hand him giant pieces of alcoholic fruit. This wasn’t the way to spend a Wednesday at all.

It took two days to recover from the hangover which got him to the weekend but not in the way that he ever wanted or should have ever experienced. His stomach was raw for days, and although he wasn’t positive, he was pretty sure he had thrown up a piece of his own heart that first night into some poor unsuspecting shrubbery but perhaps that was just an undigested piece of melon.

This made for a dreadful and sluggish Monday morning after sleeping for the whole weekend andbregretting his life choices. A sluggish Monday lead to a clumsy Tuesday which lead to a Wednesday where he made too many mistakes at work to get to go home in time. 

It was only an hour, but it was an hour that cut into his precious Wednesday night plans that he needed in order to keep his week balanced. If he missed another Wednesday, his whole world could get turned upside down right before his eyes! He had to hurry before he missed it.

He walked briskly to his favorite restaurant with his favorite meal and his favorite atmosphere and his favorite server, not wanting to waste a single second more than he had to. But he needed to calm himself before he ran straight through the glass door and made an ass out of himself. It wasn’t a big deal. He wasn’t that late.

He made it to the restaurant, and to his surprise, his table was free. No one had stolen the greatest seat in the whole place right from under him, and it was a good sign. That could have thrown off the whole vibe, and he didn’t have the time to have his vibes messed with. As he sat down in his seat, he breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t late.

“You’re late,” Seungyoun mumbled as he set the menu on the table and walked off without his usual greeting. Wooseok blinked as if hadn’t heard him right because he was sure his favorite server had never once remembered him after almost a year of sitting in the same seat every week. That was part of his appeal. He was handsome and didn’t notice him. But he had noticed him. He just had pretended not to, and that was even more peculiar. 

Seungyoun came back after a few moments to take his order, but Wooseok noticed he was writing before he had the chance to say what he wanted. Had he always done that? He never bothered to watch his hands before because since he had trouble making eye contact with people he found particularly attractive, he kept his eyes on the menu as if he was reading off of it for the first time.

He left with the assurance that Wooseok’s order would be ready shortly, and something about the situation felt strange. He wondered if this was how wild animals felt a few days before a natural disaster and shook himself. No more National Geographic. It was starting to get to him.

Wooseok pulled out his book and opened it up to where he left off two weeks before. Part of his ritual was that he only read his book while there, but that meant he had to go back a chapter to recall what he had forgotten since the last time he had opened it.

When his food arrived, he didn’t mean to not look up and thank him. Like, he wasn’t the kind of person to be rude and unappreciative, but the part he was reading was so good he went out of his mind for a few minutes. But there was a weird energy, and the lighting had changed as if when the cars drove by there was something in the window blocking the headlights. He felt like someone was watching him which was impossible because he sat at the table where no one could do that. But his food was getting cold, and he was letting his book spook him.

When he finally looked up, he jumped, startled. Seungyoun was sitting in the seat across from him on his phone ignoring Wooseok. He shifted awkwardly, not sure what he was supposed to say at a time like that so he picked up his hamburger and bit into it like nothing was strange at all. 

“Good, it’s not good when it’s cold,” he said.

“It’s alright,” he said, chewing. “What are you doing? Not that I mind or anything.”

“I’m taking my break,” Seungyoun said plainly. “My legs are killing me, and you’re late today so this way if you need something else, I’m not hiding in the back on a crate of mangos.”

“Oh,” he said. That made sense. Of course him being late would be an inconvenience to someone who was supposed to pay attention to him while he was there. “You’re not going to get in trouble, are you?”

Seungyoun shook his head. “Not unless you complain, but if you want me to leave, I will.”

“No, it’s fine,” he insisted. “You should rest.”

Wooseok went back to his food and tried not to stare. He was even better looking up close with his silky, black hair hanging down in his eyes and the little pout his bottom lip made as he relaxed.

“You didn’t come by last week,” Seungyoun said, not looking up from his phone, and Wooseok swore he was sulking. That couldn’t have been right, though.

“I was busy,” he said.

“What were you doing?”

“I had an office dinner I had to go to,” he said, avoiding any mention of the loaded melon that knocked him on his ass so hard he saw a past life. “I’m surprised you noticed.”

“You come in here every week,” he said, setting his phone down, satisfied with the answer. “It was hard not to notice an empty table.”

Wooseok flushed. “Oh, that makes sense.”

“But I couldn’t help but notice you always come in here alone,” he pointed out, stealing one of Wooseok’s fries from a pile that mysteriously looked like it was shrinking on one side. 

“I’m not lonely,” Wooseok blurted out, sensing that he felt sorry for him when he didn’t need to be. “I have friends. I just like to do something for myself in the middle of the week so I don’t crash and burn before the weekend.”

Seungyoun stole another fry. “So you don’t have a certain friend you’d like to do that with? I mean go somewhere with to make your week better.”

Wooseok laughed, amused. “Are you asking me if I have a boyfriend?”

“Not… exactly,” he said, his face flashing a faint shade of pink. “It’s none of my business. I was just making conversation is all. You don’t have to answer that.”

“I don’t,” Wooseok said, and when Seungyoun looked up like he had been told off, Wooseok clarified. “Have a boyfriend or another one of those special friends to come here with, I mean.”

“You should get one of those,” he insisted with a shameless mouthful of Wooseok’s food. “I mean you’re really nice. You’ve never complained when something isn’t right, and I’m pretty sure the cooks in the back have screwed up your order multiple times. I’m not allowed to say anything about it unless the customer complains, but I have tried to hint to it before to try to help. I’m also not supposed to say stuff like this to customers, but you’re really pretty.”

“I’m pretty?” Wooseok laughed it off, but his eyes were wide and his heart was in his throat.

“Yeah, you know, I always thought it was weird when people said other people look like deer, but you actually look like a deer,” he said, looking at Wooseok’s face intensely like they knew each other well enough to stare like that. “I mean, what’s crazy is that from above when I normally see you it’s like ‘oh, look, a model’ and it’s no big deal, but at eye level… you should definitely start sitting at tables with people more often.”

“So, you think I should bring a date next week,” Wooseok raised an eyebrow. Seungyoun liked to talk, he learned. He wondered how someone so chatty had managed to work at such a quiet place for so long.

Seungyoun frowned and shook his head. “No, that wouldn’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Because a date would spend too much time trying to impress you with their own personal appeal instead of just staring at you like a decent human being, or worse, they would spend the whole night trying to take you home,” he said, shaking his head in disapproval. “You’re right, you coming here alone on Wednesdays makes much more sense.”

“What if I come here with a date on Friday?”

He shook his head. “I won’t be here then.”

“What are you doing on Friday?”

The side of Seungyoun’s mouth turned up into a smile and his eyes sparkled. Wooseok turned away in shock. Did he just accidentally ask him out? That’s what the words that came out of his own mouth sounded like, but he didn’t mean for them to. 

“I don’t know yet,” Seungyoun said, choosing not to embarrass him ‍when he absolutely could have. He wanted to. Wooseok saw the mischief on his face and knew he had been spared. “What are you doing on Friday?”

“I don’t know yet,” Wooseok said, his voice catching in his throat. He wanted to do something to calm his nerves, but he had lost his appetite. He took to cleaning his classes with his shirt instead, avoiding eye contact.

“Let me see those,” Seungyoun said, pulling out a cleaning cloth from his pocket. “You’ll scratch them like that.”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses,” Wooseok said, making conversation.

“I’m not supposed to wear them in the dining room because the owner doesn’t think it’s a good look,” he explained as he gently wiped his lenses. “That’s why I didn’t know how good looking you were until I sat down. Ah, all better.”

He handed him back his glasses that were good as new without the faintest trace of french fry oil from the other guy’s fingertips — fingertips that dove back into Wooseok’s fry pile, and Wooseok had half a mind to order him his own plate.

“You should eat more vegetables,” Seungyoun said as he chewed. “That little piece of lettuce might as well just be a bad toupee because you pull it off before you’re half way done.”

“That’s not true,” Wooseok said, knowing that it was. “You picking on my order?”

He shook his head. “I believe every man has a right to eat whatever he wants for his special Wednesday night meal, but on Friday, we’re getting you something healthier.”

Wooseok choked on his drink.  _ “We?” _

“You’re the one who wanted to make plans with me,” he said nonchalantly.

“I did not–,” Wooseok stopped himself. This was an opportunity that he hadn’t anticipated. On one hand Seungyoun could have been joking and entertaining himself at Wooseok’s expense, but on the other, if Wooseok had to admit it, he did possibly have a bit of a crush on this guy which was somehow growing as he stole his food and asked him too many questions. What if he rolled with it… “You were the one skirting around the subject.”

“Skirting around?” Seungyoun laughed, his smile beaming in a way that made Wooseok dizzy. “What are you reading? Give me that.”

He reached over and took Wooseok’s book from the table which made Wooseok feel slightly self conscious. “Why?”

“I want to see where you’re getting your vocabulary from,” he said, flipping the book over. “A detective novel? Interesting…”

“Why?” Wooseok repeated, feeling anxious.

“Now I know you like detective novels,” he said plainly. “ _ Detective Park searches for a killer who hunts unsuspecting office workers who don’t eat their vegetables.” _

“It doesn’t say that!” Wooseok shrieked, snatching his book away. “I eat plenty of vegetables. Why are you so worried about my health?”

“Because I like you,” he said.

Wooseok blinked, and it was Seungyoun’s turn to be flustered. He had been caught up in his own game. Detective Wooseok had trapped him in his own web.

“Not like that,” he sputtered, waving his hands. “I mean you’re my favorite customer, but that’s all.”

“I see,” Wooseok said, amused.

“So back to skirting around,” Seungyoun changed the subject, embarrassed by his own slip when he had been having so much fun teasing Wooseok for his. “Where do you want to go when we go out?”

“We’re going out?”

“If you take it back, I don’t know how I will ever show my face in public again,” he said dramatically.

“I think you’ll recover,” Wooseok teased. “But we can’t risk the world not seeing you anymore, so I guess I’ll just have to take you out somewhere nice.”

“So you do want to go out with me,” Seungyoun said mischievously.

Wooseok had no idea how to play it cool anymore. Was this real? Was it banter? Was he about to make a fool of himself? He really was the one who had been caught in Seungyoun’s web, and Seungyoun was playing with him like a bored cat with a helpless mouse. 

“Why do you want to go out with me?” Wooseok tried to spin it back to him like a reverse uno card.

“Because I don’t want you to go out with someone else,” he said without an ounce of humor in his voice. 

“You want to waste time trying to impress me, or worse, trying to take me home?” Wooseok repeated his earlier point.

Seungyoun’s bottom lip turned out, and he closed his eyes as he shook his head as if the thought appalled him. “Not at first.”

“Oh?” Wooseok laughed.

“I want to spend the first date making you laugh which doesn’t count as wasting time because that’s entirely for your benefit. Plus, I get to watch you laugh which counts as admiring your face. Then I want to spend the next date listening to you talk about your detective novel and anything else you like. Then I want to spend the third date listening to you talk about your job and your friends. Then for the fourth date, I might try to impress you before taking you home.”

Wooseok’s cheeks flushed as he looked down at his half eaten burger that had surely gone cold. 

“You sure have this planned out, I guess,” Wooseok said.

“I’ve had a few months to think about it,” Seungyoun said. “I had kind of hoped you would have been one of those people who write their number on a napkin, but that never happened. And when you didn’t show up last week, I thought I missed my chance. So naturally, now that you have asked me out, I’m fully prepared to make it worth your while.”

“You’re really good at talking, you know that?” Wooseok said, unable to wipe the useless smile off of his own face.

“I’ve been told,” he said, and Wooseok had been given his answer. It wasn’t just banter.

“Let’s go where you want,” Wooseok said.

“Why me?”

“Because I’m already impressed,” he said. “I want to listen to you talk about what you like and your job and your friends.”

Seungyoun counted on his fingers for effect. “That’s like four of my dates.”

“I know,” he said, casting his own net.

Seungyoun raised an eyebrow. “You’re good at talking too.”

Wooseok smiled. “I know.”

Seungyoun looked like he was about to say something, but he checked the time on his phone and frowned. “I am going to get in trouble if I don’t go back to work.”

Wooseok felt a pang. He forgot that he was just taking his break, and now they had to switch to an awkward situation where he had to wait on him between his other tables while Wooseok tried to choke down a cold hamburger and get out of there as fast as he could. 

Seungyoun stopped by a couple of times to ask if he needed anything, but he was already back to being the server who Wooseok was sure didn’t remember him even though he had been going there for months. 

But he liked him, right? He was pretty sure he did. What was the point of going through all of that just for fun? Unless he was just a huge flirt with no self control. What if he treated all of his customers like that? Wooseok shook his head. He was overthinking things. Seungyoun definitely liked him. There was only one way to find out. 

After he finished eating and paying, he scribbled his phone number on a napkin — something he had never done before. If Seungyoun texted him, he liked him (or he was just a playboy, but that would take further investigation on his part). If he never heard from him, he would just find a new favorite restaurant to go to the next week because he would be too humiliated to ever show his face there again. 

It was a risk he had to take because Wooseok liked him. He liked him more now that he had seen a small glimmer of him that wasn’t busy being professional. He was funny and charismatic, but he paid attention to every word Wooseok said (mostly to use it against him). He was sly and good with his words, but he was easily flustered when Wooseok returned his jabs. His proportions were perfect even though he had the smallest hands Wooseok had ever seen, and well, his face was exactly Wooseok’s type. 

This was not a chance Wooseok was going to throw away no matter how nervous the situation made him. After he left, the ball was in Seungyoun’s court. It was his move, and in return, Wooseok was playing his own waiting game. He had a week before he had to formally admit defeat and accept that Seungyoun was only screwing with him. 

Wooseok briskly walked home. It was later than he normally stayed out on a Wednesday night, but he was energized. He just hoped that he wasn’t getting excited over nothing. But it was exciting, right? In its own right, he thought. Giving his number to a stranger who he shared a quick moment with was thrilling and dangerous in an emotional way. What’s the worst that could happen? So what if he was joking. Wooseok was allowed to flirt. He was allowed to shoot his shot with a guy who made him laugh and stole his food. He had chugged his own proverbial melon, and now it was time to relish in the buzz it gave him.

And then the phone at his side vibrated, and he froze in place.

The real game had begun.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not gonna lie, I wanted to fight myself for some of these cheesy moments, but WE SUFFER TOGETHER IN THIS HOUSE WE’RE A FAMILY AND FAMILY SUPPORTS EACH OTHER’S CRINGY BEHAVIOR/WRITING 
> 
> I hope yall enjoyed it!!! Please let me know what you think!!! 
> 
> twitter: @seungteefs


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